It was as if the school principal walked in to lecture wayward students.

Ohio State’s defensive players were in their meeting room on Sunday when Buckeyes coach Urban Meyer entered. Meyer is an offensive coach, but what he had seen from the Buckeyes defense was, well, offensive.

Meyer had increased his involvement with the defense a few weeks ago, urging his assistants to scheme more aggressively. But after Indiana scored 49 points on Saturday — a week after Nebraska put up 38 — Meyer decided to make a personal appearance in front of the defensive players.

“That was the first time,” senior cornerback Travis Howard said. “It was shocking because everybody knows what we’re capable of doing.

“Once we saw him, we knew it was a big deal. Everybody knows the standards and what we need to work on.”Meyer’s default mode tends toward bluntness, and he apparently didn’t tiptoe around his disappointment. Nor did he yesterday during his weekly news conference with this week’s game against Purdue approaching.

“I’m not happy at all with what’s going on on defense,” Meyer said. “That includes players and coaches, and I think we can all get better. It’s a team effort. We’ve got good coaches, good players, and we’ll move forward and get better.”

The biggest point of emphasis will be on eliminating big plays.“I mean, it’s been absurd how many big plays we give up,” Meyer said.

Missed tackles have been a problem most of the season. On Saturday, the Buckeyes were sometimes so out of position, or blocked so thoroughly, they weren’t even in position to miss tackles.

There’s no question that the injuries to veterans such as linebacker Etienne Sabino (leg) and defensive end Nathan Williams (concussion) have hurt, though Meyer said Williams will play against Purdue.

But Meyer implied that leadership is an issue, as well. That’s a big reason Meyer moved fullback Zach Boren on a “temporarily permanent” basis to linebacker.

“Right now, we’re putting an APB out for tough guys, for the guys that take the center of the defense and make it whole,” Meyer said.

The nature of Meyer’s increased involvement with the defense remains unclear.

“I’ve been thinking about that, and I don’t know,” he said. “I’ve not done that very often. I think my job is to support our staff, support our players.”

Meyer said he will re-emphasize his demand that players play relentlessly for the four to six seconds that a play typically lasts. But don’t expect him to start calling defensive signals.

“We have very good coaches, very good coaches,” Meyer said. “I think (my role) is going to be one of leadership, toughness, and the four-to-six second demand that we have on this (entire) team, not just defense.”

Defensive coordinator Luke Fickell said he welcomes Meyer’s increased involvement, even if he acknowledged that it can “make things uncomfortable at times.

“But that’s how you grow,” Fickell said. “So I think it’s been a good thing. Hopefully, he’ll continue to spend more time with us.”

The defensive problems have been particularly pronounced against teams that use the spread offense, which is what the Buckeyes will face against Purdue.

“That’s what offenses do nowadays,” Fickell said. “They try to spread the field and want to put the (linebackers) in a situation where they have to play inside the box and outside the box. Obviously, these are the things we haven’t handled quite as well this year.

“It becomes a little more obvious when it’s outside the box. You miss a tackle in the box against Michigan State and maybe it’s not that obvious.”

Ohio State’s defensive players, who pride themselves on carrying on the Silver Bullet tradition, vow to get on track.

“We’re really, really mad right now,” linebacker Ryan Shazier said. “Words can’t really describe how we feel. We had a horrible game. We gave up too many yards, too many points. We have way better players than we showed. Nobody played to their standards.

“I feel this is going to be a whole new week. You’re going to see a whole new defense. Everybody is going to do their job. We haven’t been playing together. We’ve been talking it over, and we’re going to have everything fixed for this week.”

Otherwise, they might again have to face the wrath of Principal Meyer.